Sen. Rick Scott to D.C. Lobbying Firm: You Should Be Ashamed to Work on Behalf of Murderous Dictator Maduro

February 24, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott sent a letter to the lobbying firm of Amsterdam & Partners after the firm took over a contract to work on behalf of Nicolas Maduro’s brutal regime in Venezuela. Recently, Senator Scott called on another lobbying firm to stop working for Maduro, and they heeded that call.

Read the Senator’s letter HERE or below.

February 24, 2020

Amsterdam & Partners LLP
1054 31st St NW, STE 110
Washington, DC 20007

To the firm of Amsterdam & Partners,

It has come to my attention that your firm was recently hired to work on behalf of Nicolas Maduro’s brutal regime in Venezuela.

This is shocking news considering the absolute genocide Maduro is perpetrating on his citizens. He is a thug and a dictator who is murdering children and starving his people. I’ve been to the border. I’ve seen the starvation, the hunger, the pain. Children are starving to death – children the age of my grandsons. These same children were walking for hours each way to go to school in Cúcuta just across the border. Mothers and their young children trudged through dense forests and across rivers to get their only meal of the day. Men, women, and children are dying, and it’s all at the hands of Nicolas Maduro – the socialist dictator whose government you have agreed to represent. No business in the United States should have any contact with Maduro’s government, let alone willingly take money to lobby on its behalf.

As Governor and now as U.S. Senator, I’ve been committed to fighting for freedom and democracy around the globe. The United States has taken strong action to try to force Maduro aside, but more must be done to bring freedom to the people of Venezuela. Frankly, I’m disgusted to learn that your firm has decided not to support this fight, and is instead choosing to stand with Maduro.   

I recently called on another lobbying firm to stop working for Maduro, and they heeded that call. I urge you to do the same. As long as you represent a dangerous dictator who is murdering his own people, I will refuse to meet with anyone in your firm, or anyone that contracts on this matter with your firm, regardless of the many clients you represent. And I am urging every one of my colleagues to join me.

Sincerely,

Rick Scott

United States Senator

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